2015 :: Dragon disc staff - the beginning
Dragon staff as an art form was originally innovated by Hungarian fire spinning and prop making legend, Gora, in 2004. The push to make a flowtoys LED dragon staff came about when our friend and dragon staff spinner Francois Erb visited the flowspace in 2015. Francois thought to give an impromptu dragon staff workshop, and Sean gave himself a 5-day deadline to come up with a solution. In those 5 days, he upped his illustrator skills and came up with the manta ray design to secure capsule lights to a "dragon disc" that attached to the composite staff.
The shape of the manta ray emerged as we were exploring the optimal interplay between strength, durability, required mounting points and minimal material weight, while designing with the fewest vector points possible. A few tweaks brought to life this inspiring and graceful animal with its iconic curves, the cephalic fins around its mouth, and the claspers on its tail. The marine theme continued as the shape of the support discs took on the appearance of a whales' tale as they followed the lines of the primary disc, and the outermost support began to look like the metal reinforcement around the keyhole to a futuristic pirate’s treasure chest.
We did not begin with the manta-marine theme in mind when we set out to develop the structure. As with many of our designs, we are their conduit for manifestation as we seek to solve mechanical challenges, while honoring the beauty and intelligence of nature. Call it the viral beauty of nature using us as their host ;)
2021 :: Trikon dragon staff - the evolution
The trikon dragon hub design is a step in the evolution of the LED dragon staff. The spiraled shape of the trikon design was inspired by Mickey Khoury’s “Viper” hubs released in 2015. Mickey has been supporting the dragon staff community for many years through innovative designs and moves through his company FlowForm in Australia.
The “conical” shape was innovated by Sean to add dimensionality, better display the LEDs, create more clearance during use, and enable the staff to stand on its own. The use of flexible 3D printed parts to make a solid and incredibly durable transition between tubes, leashes and other prop components was developed by flowtoys in 2013 and has transformed the industry.
Trikon dragon staffs come with three light options.
- Flowlights are our first light engine - very beautiful and the most economical, but they use a AAA battery and do not have wireless connectivity or the ability to connect to our app.
- Capsule lights are our second light engine - launched with podpoi. They have 64 customizable modes, wireless control, accelerometer, modular, are almost indestructible and are the leading industry standard for single pixel light units.
- Vision lights are our multi-pixel light engine - launched with vision clubs. They have 80 beautiful customizable modes, wireless control, accelerometer and many more features. They are currently our top of the line light engine.
2023 :: pop'n flow dragon staff - a modular, travel-friendly solution
The pop'n flow modular system comprises a system of "full vision spokes" that attach to many different hubs, so you can create a wide variety of props with just a few parts, with everything breaking down to fit in a backpack.
The pop'n flow dragon staff was released in late 2023 with the launch of the pop'n flow system. It has a similar conical shape to the trikon dragons, though less angled as the spokes are longer. The hub is translucent, so the dragon heads light up completely. The full vision spokes have all the features of our vision light engine.
The pop'n flow dragon is less of an evolution, as the trikon is still the best handling LED dragon staff, but the pop'n flow feels good and provides an alternative that is very travel-friendly and where the light units can become many other props.